The Ranch (A Second Chance Romance)

I raised my eyebrows at that. “Not officially missing. Just unofficially missing, so her friends get to look into it like the Scooby Doo gang.”

Coop huffed. “Yeah, just like that. So let’s go get our woman and tell her the news.”

“Right. Give me one minute to make her a sandwich to take with us, and then I’m ready to go.”

Chapter Seventeen

Poppy Evans

“Missing?”

I tried to take a breath but couldn’t. I gasped as if I’d been stabbed in the chest.

Jasmine was like a sister to me. Like my other, cooler sister, who often seemed to understand me better than my biological sibling did.

“How can she be missing?” I blinked and stared at the two men standing on the front porch of my bungalow. They hadn’t even waited to come in before delivering the terrible news.

Perhaps they thought I wouldn’t let them in after the way we parted the previous night. But I was full of regret about how we’d left things. We had only a small window of opportunity to spend time together and my body and heart longed for them more than I wanted to acknowledge.

“I don’t have a fucking clue. Unless she’s gotten caught up in some weather issue.” Coop obviously had the image of Prue and me stranded in her car at the front of his memory bank.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t make any sense. Where could she be?” It was a dumb question, and I heard that as soon as it came out of my mouth. Of course, nobody knew where she was—if they did, she wouldn’t be missing.

Even after a good night’s sleep my brain was frazzled from trying to process what was happening between me and these guys. Or what I wanted to happen in the future.

Much as I longed for the, seeing them there in front of me didn’t make things any easier.

And my brain refused to wrap any spare cells around the news. Grown women don’t just go missing. Not in our tiny hometown. Not when that grown woman happened to be one of my best friends. It didn’t seem possible. I didn’t want to believe it. I wasn’t going to believe it.

“Vic suggested we retrace her steps, starting at the banquet room where they had the rehearsal dinner.” Cooper glanced at me again. “I figured you’d want—”

“Yes,” I interrupted. “No need to apologize or even ask. I’m coming with you. Let’s find her.” I turned to slip into footwear and grab my bag before setting off in the truck for the short drive up to the banquet hall.

“I made you lunch in case you hadn’t eaten.” Nolan thrust a small package at me as I stepped out of the door.

I took it automatically, but before I could react he’d already turned to return to the truck.

“Do you know where she went after she left the rehearsal dinner?” Cooper asked as we stood under the canopy outside the banquet hall. The same canopy where I’d huddled with Prue the night before when my biggest concern had been trying to avoid Cooper and Nolan.

What a difference a day made.

It seriously seemed like a lifetime ago, like I’d had the absolute longest day in the history of the world since then.

“We were supposed to go back to her bungalow for some drinks to unwind after dinner,” I answered.

“We?” Nolan asked. “You, Jasmine, and Muriel?”

“That’s right,” I nodded. “But I had to leave with Prue. I assumed they still hung out together, though I’m not sure what they did. And obviously Muri ended up back at her bungalow with Cameron and Hugh, so I really don’t have much idea what happened.”

“I guess our next stop is to talk to Muriel,” Cooper said, already walking toward his truck. He turned back over his shoulder toward me. “Can you please call her to ask where we’ll find her now? And tell her, wherever she is, we’re on our way over.”

I pulled out my phone and briefly wondered what we might interrupt this time.

Mental note: Ask her what the hell was going on in that bungalow when the tree fell once this is all over.

She had been cagey about the circumstances when we’d gone there to help them out earlier that morning. And it hadn’t been the right time to interrogate her about Hugh and Cameron. But I definitely intended to ask her later.

I barely had time to make the quick phone call before we pulled up in front of the new, undamaged bungalow where she’d been relocated.

She was waiting for us outside on the little porch with a cup of coffee and a worried expression.

“Have you heard anything from Jas?” I called out before I’d even fully made it out of the truck.

She shook her head. “I intended to ask you the same thing, but you hung up the phone too fast. I’d just ran into Vic, and he told me she was missing.”